Cruyff drove a Citroen SM, my dream car, one of which i will own before too long.

I'm with you on football now. It bores me rigid and I stopped watching a long time ago. Until very recently I devoured the football pages of The Times every day, but now I just can't be arsed.

he was even cooler than I thought!

But I have gone off it a bit. Everyone just seems to take it all far toop seriously nowadays. Players, fans, the media...etc

The whole junta protest thing might not be correct. According to Wikipedia:

Cruyff retired from international football in October 1977, having helped the national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Without him, the Netherlands finished runners-up in the World Cup again. Initially the reason given for missing the 1978 FIFA World Cup were political reasons given a military dictatorship was in power in Argentina at that time. In 2008, however, Cruyff stated to the journalist Antoni Bassas in Catalunya Ràdio, that he and his family were involved in a kidnap attempt in Barcelona a year before the tournament, and that this had caused his retirement. "To play a World Cup you have to be 200%, there are moments when there are other values in life."

But yes, second only to Maradona.

The Argentinians of that era looked liked rock stars too.
And their gaffer liked a gasper or two.

I saw Cruyff once - European cup semi-final against Leeds. Only now do I realise how hard my Dad must have worked to get the tickets.

Loved Cruyff and whole 70s Dutch team. And those tackles in the clips above - these days players would have gone down way long before scoring.

Recently saw a review of the last world cup, which made me realise how good Zidane was. Like Cruyff he seemed a whole level above everyone else on the pitch.

surely must have been the coolest footballer ever. Sublime skills, amazing success with the ladies and a brilliant Elvis impersonator to boot.

I'm in my mid forties and Cruyff is THE footballing legend of my childhood, primarily because of the 1974 World Cup. I'd say he means more to me than Maradona or Pele as does the whole Dutch team in 1974. I'd even go so far as to say that I moved to Holland (in 2000) partially because of the huge impression made on me by the Dutch 26 years earlier.

The only comparable players of that generation were Germany's Franz Beckenbauer and Gunter Netzer.

I've not lost my love of football to the extent that the writer of this article has but I find myself not really caring anymore about most of it and I've transferred by sporting love to rugby union.

... but smoking 20 cigarettes a day is not particularly "cool" especially when it leads to a massive heart attack at the age of 44. I also wondered if his absence from the 78 finals was more due to traditional Dutch infighting which has probably caused them to not win the World Cup that they richly deserve. They should have won that final anyway.

Coolest footballer ever ? Paolo Maldini (not sure if he smokes ;) )

is my favourite footballer. Although I think probably Pele and Maradonna and possibly Zidane were better as all-round players. They were more effective too in some ways.
I think Cruyff is quite similar to George Best. The way that he is built and the the way he moves. He is quite surprisingly strong too.I think the film above demonstrates this.

I will watch the World Cup and I look forward to it, but have pretty much zero interest in the Premier League and Champions League. In the 90s I would probably any old game on Sky. Now I can't get interested in Arsenal v Man U or Liverpool etc

for me. Just utterly depressed by all the diving and the cheating; to the extent that I refused to watch the final and have barely seen a game since.

Unfortunately though, I am genetically hard-wired to forever be cursed to follow the fortunes of Derby County; so, even though I couldn't tell you who plays for them nowadays, my mood at 5pm on a Saturday is still largely determined by James Alexander Gordon.

Loved footy as a kid, following Leeds in the early 70's but got more and more into rugby as I grew older. I can't be bothered watching any match now, although I did take my son to his first match a couple of years ago (Plymouth beating Colchester 4-1...a good first match to go to!) And by the by, shouldn't your first ever match be under floodlights?

The thing that still facinates me with football nowadays is everything that bubbles under the surface - the business and finance side of it. I could read David Cohn articles till I'm blue in the face.

.

The 70s just seemed a wonderful time for football with real characters playing the game. The players had fun unlike the sullen faces of today's players. Life must be tough on £150k a week.
I'm still in love with the game but Saturday's result doesn't ruin or make my week like it used to.
Dare I suggest that there's too much football on television now? Television football used to be a treat but it's possible I imagine to watch it now for 24 hours a day.
Also, the working man has been squeezed out of the game because of high admission prices so I think there will be a gap of fans in future years because fathers haven't taken their sons from a young age as they have in previous times.

Watching football is much much cheaper everywhere else. I sometimes find myself in Munich and I can watch Bayern Munich (if I can get a ticket) for around the same price as my team, Cambridge United, in the Conference. That is insane.

I can't recommend the 'Brilliant Orange' book (mentioned above) too highly.
Ajax were a so-so team of Championship/League 1 standard throughout their history, despite playing in the capital city, until their emergence (and Cryuff's) in the 60s.
He is Holland's answer to John Lennon.....far more of a 60s icon in Amsterdam than an icon of the following decade.

George Best. No arguments please. This is not up for discussion, it is purely a statement of fact.

1)Brilliant player
2)World's luckiest manager, Won the league 4 consecutive times,3 times because the leaders on the final day messed it up spectacularly,Deportivo la Coruña missed an injury time penalty to hand them the title.
3) He thought Gary Lineker was a winger (No H). Lineker then scored 4 goals for England against Spain. Johan still thought he was right.
4)He took his sacking in a way that made the way DLT took his, look dignified.And like our beloved dave,still bangs on about it. 4-0 to Milan, is all i can say Johan.
5) The way he treated Bobby Robson was a disgrace. He should be ashamed.Did everything he could to belittle Sir Bobby who took all the abuse and retained his dignity throughout.
6)To say he is arrogant is like saying RT can play a bit.
7) he is the president of Barcelona in all but name. He can't return officially otherwise he would have to return about 10 million he got from his testimonial.Joan Laporta is Johan's lawyer
8) He's the manager of Catalunya despite the fact he's lived there for 37 years and doesn't speak Catalan. Something Louis van Gaal was taken to task for after less than 2 weeks.
9) did i mention he is arrogant ?
10) Manages to mention how much better his Barça were even when he's talking about walking his dog.
11) He invented the Phrase 'Anti-Football' as an all-in excuse when Barça lose. 'That 4-0 defeat was because the other team played anti-football' It's been adopted by their so-called supporters and guarantees to wind up any other team's supporters. Johan and Barça are bad losers but even worse winners.

The guy was a football genius but as a bloke he's best avoided.

Stan Bowles (when at QPR) was always looking for a bit of cash to support his love of the dogs at White City.
He apparently struck an endorsement deal with two manufacturers (Puma & Gola (I think)).
To get round the problem of exclusivity, he went out to play with a boot from each manufacturer.

He also flogged the chairmans shed from the garden of the house Jim Gregory had let him stay in.

played a lot of junior football, one to a very high level. Every coach he has come across looks for and teaches "The Cruyff Turn". Says it all really, 30 years on and THAT skill is being taught with the great mans name.
I really don't care what sort of man he is, I won't be going to dinner with him, he was one of the 3 greatest footballers of all time and without doubt the most graceful.
Oh, and I'll never tire of football of course the Premiership is pretentious nonsense but the skill level and pace is rediculously high. If I want proper football I go down to Brentford.

and give a shout to Brian Laudrup surely the best player ever to grace the Scottish game?

My favourite fact about JC is that in the 74 World Cup he refused to wear the Adidas strip with the three stripes on the arm because he had a sponsorship deal with Puma. Can you imagine any player having the status to outweigh the official sponsor of the national football team at a major competition today? And here's another thing that I noticed; if you go to the TOFFS website (purveyors of fine replica classic football shirts) you'll find a whole series of classic Cryff shirts. The same cult status doesn't seem to be reserved for Pele or Maradonna. I've wondered if it's because Cryff represented an anti-establishment cool in sport in the early-mid 70's and his fans are now at the age when we're happy to indulge our nostalgic flashbacks and dress them up in Cryff shirts. I have an Adidas total football shirt which is ironic given my first point.

Maradona all but won a World Cup by himself.
Cruyff and Platini were immensely gifted footballers playing in great and ultimately underachieving teams.
Best played for a great club team, didn't achieve anything at international level.
Gascoigne had it in him to be Europe's finest but wasted all is talent, saw him against the Hoops and he could stroll through games he was so talented.
But, Zizou led teams of fabulously, outrageously talented individuals at club and international to all the great titles. McManaman says he was the best he ever saw.
And he did it all barely touching the ball with his left peg, Brian.

He scores plenty with the left in this montage.
Bit long, but not a bit sorry.

.

My love of the game waned when he hung up his boots. And it started when I stood at the Milton End one Saturday in 1987 and watched him waltz past half a dozen West Ham players before planting it in the top corner.

Perhaps not in the same league as the luminaries above but.. buggery.. he could play a bit when the mood took him..

Zizou
A genius but unusual in that who had heard of him until he was 23/24?
Also - quick feet, slow legs!
I think when deciding who the real, real greats are, its like Pop - Elvis changed things, The Beatles changed things, Kraftwerk changed things .
Fundamentally.
So...Who are the players that took it somewhere it had never been before? ( ie Best - incredible but did nothing that Pele hadnt already done)
Zico, Rivaldo, Platini,Beckenbauer, Van Basten, Gullit, Henry, Gascoigne, Baggio...all up there but...

I think it goes - Stanley Matthews - Puskas - Di Stefano - Pele - Cruyff - Maradona - Zidane - and maybe Ronaldo (the fat Brazilian one)

Last year I was really lucky.
I went to Rio for summat and met up with a friend who is Brazilian and footy mad. He took me to the Maracana Stadium for a match (there are no words to describe how exciting it was so I wont bother).
I put 'The Greatest?' to him. Dont forget, he is Brazilian and had to almost spit that there was nothing between Pele and Maradona ('The Devil' to him).
He reckons though that, in Brazil, the debate is usually settled by one word...

'Garrincha'.

there's a Bergkamp compilation that's great too.

Wonderful post. Haven't seen that footage before. I remember getting a Match of the Day annual for Xmas in the late 70s where the Cruyff turn (flicking the ball behind the back of his legs to fool defenders) was explained in a useful sequence of diagrams. I tried to practice it in the back garden but never quite managed it, my legs were far too short.

My Dad used to let me stay up late on Saturday nights to watch the match and together we'd marvel at Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Gerry Francis, Ray Wilkins, Trevor Francis, Tony Currie, Ray Kennedy, Kenny Dalglish, Ricky Villa, Peter Lorimer, Paul Mariner, Liam Brady etc. If you want elegant skillful players, look no further.

I always watch the World Cup and the big cup matches but I stopped following the Premier league years ago, when frankly it all got a bit too boring for me and lost its magic. Paul Gasgoigne was probably the last top player I saw live at Wembley who really thrilled me. I saw Rooney et al a few months ago and it was like watching paint dry.
Speaking of magic on the ball, and being a N. Irishman, I'll post some Georgie next "May God rest his soul".